Java Swing JDK 1.6 Screenshots

A few months ago OSNews
reported that the next version of Java (code name "Mustang") will
feature native GTK components for the Swing API. This got us excited
since, quite frankly, Swing's GTK look and feel has always been quite
dissapointing. We downloaded the
latest release candidate of JDK 1.6 to see how well the Swing GTK
look and feel looks, we were quite pleased with what we found. Here are
some screenshots of the SwingSet2 demo application included with the
JDK, these were taken on Fedora Core 4. As can be seen in the
screenshots, Mustang picks up the GNOME theme and renders Swing
components appropriately.

Clearlooks Theme

Bluecurve Theme

Crux Theme

Glider Theme

For comparison, the following screenshots show how a native
application renders, using the same GNOME themes we used to test JDK 1.6
Swing rendering. In case you are wondering, the screenshots are of the
preferences for the GEdit text editor included with most Linux
distributions. Notice how the GUI components match the Mustang
screenshots perfectly.

Clearlooks Theme

Bluecurve Theme

Crux Theme

Glider Theme

Last, but not least, here are some screenshots of the SwingSet2
application running on JDK 1.5 (Tiger). In this set, The Bluecurve GNOME
theme is the one that best matches the native components, and even that
one is not perfect.

Clearlooks Theme

Bluecurve Theme

Crux Theme

Glider Theme

Was it pressure from SWT that finally made Swing look like it belongs
in the desktop? Whatever the reason, we would like to congratulate
Java's Swing team for a job well done.